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🎓 College profile

Birmingham-Southern College

AL · Private nonprofit · Mid-size city · 3,987 applicants 2023

52% admit rate SAT 1150–1340
Get your child's odds at Birmingham-Southern College Free Family Decision Report — Reach / Match / Likely + your real net price. Birmingham-Southern College starts already on the list. Start →

🎯 Parent/student verdict

Match

Solid match for academically prepared students.

✅ Best for

  • Solid academic profiles — the admitted-student bands above are within reach for strong students
  • Students focused on Business, Management, & Marketing (the school's signature program)

🎯 The reality

  • Bottom-quartile academic profile if: SAT below 1150, or ACT below 21, or unweighted GPA below ~3.50 (admitted-class quartiles; GPA floor is a calibrated heuristic where CDS not yet on file)

Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price by income, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.

🏛️ Institutional snapshot

What kind of college is this?

Carnegie classification
Baccalaureate Colleges: Arts & Sciences Focus
Admit rateThe share of applicants a college accepts. Useful context, but your student's odds depend on their own grades and scores, not the average.
51.9%
Moderately selective
SAT middle 50%The middle half of enrolled students scored in this range — a quarter scored BELOW the low end and still got in, and a quarter scored above the high end. Above the top number is a genuine strength; below the bottom isn't automatic rejection.
1150–1340
EBRW + Math composite
ACT middle 50%The middle half of enrolled students scored in this range — a quarter scored BELOW the low end and still got in, and a quarter scored above the high end. Above the top number is a genuine strength; below the bottom isn't automatic rejection.
21–27
composite
Test policyApplicants choose whether to send SAT/ACT scores. At many such colleges, students who submit strong scores are still admitted at higher rates.
Test-optional
2023

Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.

📚 What students study here

Most popular majors at Birmingham-Southern College

Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Birmingham-Southern College actually graduates — not just what it markets.

1. Business, Management, & Marketing
88 degrees · 47.6%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.
2. Psychology
33 degrees · 17.8%
Most undergrad psych grads go into non-clinical roles. Clinical/counseling psych requires a master's or doctoral.
3. Health Professions
32 degrees · 17.3%
Highest-paying group on this list, but most careers require additional training beyond a 4-year degree.
4. Biological & Biomedical Sciences
18 degrees · 9.7%
Many bio majors → med school / grad school. Direct-employment bio roles are lower-paid than that pipeline.
5. Social Sciences
14 degrees · 7.6%
Economics + poli sci sub-disciplines pay much more than sociology + anthropology.

💼 What those majors earn here

Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Birmingham-Southern College's own graduates, not national averages.

Major (CIP) Credential Cohort 1-yr earnings 4-yr earnings
Business Administration, Management and Operations. Bachelor's Degree 57 $40,689 $65,938
Psychology, General. Bachelor's Degree 26 $27,383 $44,315

Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →

📈 Student body & economic mobility

Who attends here — and what the campus adds.

Opportunity Insights data. Why it matters even if you're full-pay: a high mobility rate means the campus itself confers earnings power — the outcomes aren't just selection effects.

Top-1% access
9.2%
from top-1% households
Mobility rateThe share of ALL students who arrived from the bottom 20% of family incomes AND reached the top 20% themselves by their early 30s — access and lift in one number, and a sign the campus itself adds earnings power.
1.0%
bottom 20% → top 20% by age 32
Upward rate
27.3%
of lower-income students who reach the top 20%

Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →

Alternatives to Birmingham-Southern College

Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.

🏆 Better merit-aid options
These similar-selectivity schools publish merit scholarships your family can plan around — your kid’s stats could unlock real scholarship dollars.
University of Alabama in Huntsville
AL · Public
39 stats-based merit scholarships
Texas Tech University
TX · Public
30 stats-based + 1 competitive scholarships
The University of Alabama
AL · Public
21 stats-based + 2 competitive scholarships
🛡️ Safer in-state options
Same state and similar selectivity, but with a more forgiving admit rate — useful safety / match anchors.
University of South Alabama
AL · Public
66% admit rate (vs 52% here)
University of Alabama in Huntsville
AL · Public
74% admit rate (vs 52% here)
The University of Alabama
AL · Public
76% admit rate (vs 52% here)
🚀 Stronger campus value-add
Per Opportunity Insights, these campuses add more earnings power to the students they enroll than Birmingham-Southern College does — a quality signal, not a cost play.
CUNY Bernard M Baruch College
NY · Public
12.9% mobility rate (vs 1.0% here)
CUNY City College
NY · Public
11.7% mobility rate (vs 1.0% here)
CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice
NY · Public
9.7% mobility rate (vs 1.0% here)

⚖️ Or compare any college side-by-side

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